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I haven’t had a many ideas lately for writing a Type 1 Diabetes blog entry, but I do today. So here goes.

I don’t think I’d be way off base by saying I am a bit of a free spirit. I don’t like following orders, I don’t like people questioning my motives, I don’t like the rules… wait… this sounds darn right bratty… hmmm. Oh well. All our lives it seems we are taught to do the “right thing.” What is the “right thing?” For a middle class midwestern family I’d say it’s go to college, pick a good major, make sure your future is accounted for by the time you turn 18, settle down, have some kids, blah, blah, blah, rules, rules, rules. None of this is bad by any means. People are very lucky to have accomplished these things, but it isn’t always right for everyone. We are raised to follow our dreams, reach for the stars, all those other cliché sayings. What they don’t tell us is that yes, you should follow your dreams… as long as it’s financially responsible. Reach for the stars, but try to keep your feet on the ground. Now I’m not saying every middle class American family is like this, but in general? Yes. For the lucky ones (what I consider lucky, anyway), they break through and break free. As a type 1 diabetic, I don’t see how it’s possible to break free. Spread the wings and fly… (Is that a song? I think it is…I believe I can fly, I believe I can touch the sky, spread my wings and fly away… oh, R Kelly…) Anyway, We have to have insulin. It’s integral to living. Insulin is not cheap. How could we possibly drop everything and move to a new city, a new country, change our career path, or move to an island somewhere to sell coconuts on a beach? Anything but stay where we are? We have to have a plan, we have to have a job lined up, make sure it has a good health insurance plan, all that jazz. The kind of stuff that clips the wings of any sort of free spirited bird. The whole situation is frustrating.

I am not saying I want to run off to Mexico City and work for an amazing foundation that rescues big cats or anything, but I’m not saying it’s something I don’t want to do either. I want the option. I want to be able to think about my future and not have to consider my disease and limitations. I want to go scuba diving with some dolphins, gosh darn it! Being a free spirit for a healthy individual is hard enough in a small town middle class American society without throwing in an expensive chronic disease to go with it. I just wonder if there are any Type 1’s out there that have broken free of the expected? If so, I sure would like to hear their story!